"'Embryonic-Like' Cell Discovery Could Affect Ethics Debate" says CNS

Cybercast News Service has the story.

ESCR proponents v. ASCR proponents may have to stop fighting soon. A new breakthrough in stem-cell research may lead to cells with the best of both worlds:

A reported breakthrough in stem cell research may lend new weight to the campaign against the use of human embryos in research, one of the most pressing ethical controversies facing governments in the U.S. and elsewhere.

American and British researchers say that they have found, in umbilical cord blood, a new type of cell -- neither embryonic nor "adult" -- which is more versatile than the latter while avoiding the ethical dilemmas surrounding the former.

And in a further development, the scientists have found a way to mass-produce the new cells, sidestepping the problem of limited supply of embryonic cells.

The cord-blood-derived-embryonic-like stem cells (CBEs) share many of the same characteristics of embryonic cells and one day might be used to treat injuries or diseases.
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"CBEs are a viable human alternative from embryonic stem cells for stem cell research, without ethical constraint and with potential for clinical applications," study leader Dr Colin McGuckin said in the medical journal Cell Proliferation.

Stem-cells with the flexible properties of ESCs, yet derived from core-blood of umbilical cords--and therefore not an embryo. These CBEs appear to satisfy the scientific and medical requirements of SCR. They fulfill the mandates for both "compassion" and morality (as if the two could be separated. Sigh.) Looks like we have a winner!

Except for the Ka-Ching! Factor. IVF clinics literally have frozen embryos that they throw away. There's no doubt that many of them would love the additional revenue stream that ESCR could provide. Ditto for the pro-abortion industry, especially for those "clinics" that perform early-term abortions.

And, of course, there's the ideological reasons to support ESCR. It sure provides a nice metaphsical robe for the very naked abortion-on-demand construct. The numbers on whether or not abortions are a "good thing" have dropped significantly. Ultra-sounds and stories of long-term consequences have driven this. Not to mention the times the pro-abort industry falsely cried "fire!" over abortion issues (NARAL's discredited character assassination of Judge Roberts is one recent example.) ESCR helps give people a reason to see embryos as a means to an end instead of an end in themselves. This mindset helps the pro-abort industry.

The trouble with CBEs is that their use calls the pro-abort's bluff. Why do researchers need ESCs when CBEs work just as well and don't carry the moral baggage? Why should Federal money fuel a controversy when an effective and non-controversial option is on the table? These are the hard questions that the Ka-ching! and Great-I-Am crowds will have to answer. I don't think they'll come up with good ones.